Monday musings

OK, hands up all those who thought that we'd beat Lancashire home and away in the T20?

No, not those who HOPED we would, those who thought it would happen?

Me neither and I'm quite happy to use those wins as further evidence of progress on the pitch at the County Ground. I had no real expectation of a win yesterday, even though at halfway we had posted a decent score. Lancashire's fast start meant that at ten overs in their innings the game looked gone as far as I was concerned, though I was using last season's bowling as a benchmark. Some tight bowling by Robin Peterson brought us back into the game, while the closing overs from Jones and Langeveldt were arguably the best by Derbyshire bowlers in this competition. Let's face it, the score yesterday was around those we made for most of last season, when we lost more often than not. It shows the benefit of having experienced bowlers putting the ball in the right areas, backed up by some fine fielding.

It means that we've still only played badly in one game in this competition, against Worcestershire away when we batted and bowled poorly in a game we should have won. We lost twice to Nottinghamshire but were far from disgraced, while the two defeats against Warwickshire went down to the wire.

We're showing increased ability and confidence in the tight situations. Look at how we beat Northamptonshire away from home, perhaps the biggest shock so far after posting such a modest total. The fielders have backed up the bowlers, with yesterday's highlight being the brilliant one-handed catch taken by Steffan Jones off the bowling of Tim Groenewald. With Durston, Park and Smith in the side we have real livewires who can turn a game with a diving save, a catch or a run out.

Credit is due to Smith for his captaincy too, which has also remained calm under pressure. He has undoubtedly been helped by the able lieutenants in Peterson and Langeveldt, cricketers of great experience who are happy to take on responsibility at key moments in matches. Once again yesterday they came up with the goods, Peterson's all-round contribution was crucial, while Langeveldt's role as "go to" bowler seems to give the team a confidence it has often lacked in the past.

What it all means, of course, is that we now control our destiny. Winning all three of our remaining matches would be nice and would build momentum, but two out of three may just take us through to the quarter finals. Durham away on Wednesday, Northamptonshire at home on Friday and then Yorkshire at home on Sunday are matches that are winnable, without question, though we cannot underestimate any of them. Durham have disappointed, but any team with Ian Blackwell, Phil Mustard, Dale Benkenstein, Ross Taylor and Albie Morkel in it has to be respected. We should - probably would - have beaten them at Derby but for the weather, so I doubt that we'll go in to the game feeling in any way inferior.

Derbyshire being Derbyshire, it is unlikely that we will do this the easy way, of course. I wrote a couple of weeks back that the Yorkshire game would be crucial and it will be, even if only to decide the positions, if not the make up, of the top four. We will need everyone to be on top of their game and if that happens anything is possible, something we've already shown.

Irrespective of the outcome of this week's games, this T20 campaign is a huge improvement on previous ones. We've played good, competitive cricket throughout and mention should be made of John Morris' signings for the competition. A top order blaster in Loots Bosman and a world-class bowler in Langeveldt must be the envy of most sides and they have made an excellent contribution.

Our biggest problem now is the size of the playing staff, something that is hard to rectify given that our playing budget is smaller than any other county. Last season we challenged well in the Championship, this year in the T20. Realistically it is difficult to imagine a challenge on different fronts with the level of injuries we have had and both the Pro 40 and Championship campaigns are effectively over as our backup is very inexperienced. Being able to play Bosman AND Langeveldt in the T20 is a huge bonus, as somehow I suspect results may have been different had we needed to play Mark Footitt or Atif Sheikh, with no disrespect intended.

In closing, as mentioned by a contributor to IMWT yesterday, I just hope that the local media get behind the county this week as the club deserves sporting prominence for once. Surely yesterday's win ranks ahead of Derby County's centre-half declaring himself fit and raring to go to for the season? No doubt the latest pre-season injury will be more newsworthy than Derbyshire hopefully qualifying for the quarter-finals...

More tomorrow, with a Durham preview. C'mon boys, we know you can do it!